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i felt sad for Toyota's captain injury...do you think this injury will affect Toyota's performaance very badly in the rest of the league ? can they afford to replace her ?
i dont know how important she is for her team.she should be as she is the captain

I don't know her that well but, sadly, during the first two sets of the game last night I was noting her with heightened interest. She's athletic and a big jumper with a strong swing. She's had some time with the NT the last few years (she's 24), made the long list but not the final cut this year (which probably means reception is not her strong point).

Beyond our friend Neriman, I don't think Toyota has any other threats from the wings. I imagine it's going to be a gut punch for the team.

i wish Takahashi a quick recovery....i hope they can find someone to replace her bcz they seem to be doing well so far talking from the standings

Red Rockets has Koga and Shimamura who i remember from Japenese NT...anyone else in the team ?
why are they going badly so far ?

Akari Oumi retired.

I don't think NEC is playing with a foreigner. I also don't think they are playing that badly as you say when you think about their composition as a team.

i watched some part from Red Rockets -Toyota match and youre right they struggled well but couldnt win..i mean why they are the 5th on the standings as the last year champion ?
btw.i enjoyed the match..good struggle,good/high tempo..not boring !

Red Rockets has Koga and Shimamura who i remember from Japenese NT...anyone else in the team ?
why are they going badly so far ?

It looks to me that they are playing around with rotations at this point. In addition to Shimamura, who isn't playing a lot, there's Kana Ohno in the middle. She's an NT member but didn't play this summer. Injury rehab, I believe. She's a better attacker than Shimamura, imo. And tougher.

NEC has played their alternate setter, #14 Shiori Tsukada instead of their main one #07 Kaname Yamaguchi, the last few games. I think she's doing a good job, but Yamaguchi and MB Ohno have a better rhythm together that's missing.

Every team needs a Ding Xia (China's rapscallion setter). For NEC it was Akari Oumi (OH) who retired. She was sassy with a winner's mentality on the floor. For me, that's a big loss.

The captain this year is #08 Mizuki Yanagita (OP OH) - 168cm b.1996. She's been one of my favorites but I'm feeling it's a bad choice. She seems preoccupied with it, distracting her a bit from playing loose. She's still a youngster but hasn't improved much over the last year. Maybe because she lost that year of development to Nokolova (last year's European Hired Gun--I'm still mad about that--NEC doesn't have a foreigner on their roster so far this year).

This post has been edited 1 times, last edit by "sitenoise" (Nov 6th 2017, 7:15pm)

I was watching the JT game on Youtube/Roku but I was having some issues and the stream went off and when it came back and I could see a player was being carried out off the court, but I could not see her face, my heart was racing. So it was MB Mai Okumura that got injured?? I hope she`s ok and come back soon.

Poor Takahashi

I`m glad JT was able to come back and beat Denso. Their game is not fully clicking yet, and everyone is digging Mihajlovic a lot, but that`s ok she will just need a lot of patiences. I`m glad they let her receive some balls, she made a few mistakes but was good overall. And JT`s pass is really not good, so is better to just let Mihajlovic receive as well. At some point in the game against Dense they even had the MB receiving.

Is hard to pick favorites, basically all 8 teams could end up winning it all, but as of right now Hisamitsu looks good, and they will be even stronger when Nagaoka comes back. Rockets are doing fine with no international player, but we gotta wait and see how they can keep up with that. Toray

Neriman is doing really well, she was the right replacement for Rahimova.

#5 Mika Shibata, setter, got carried off in the game against NEC. I didn't see Okumura get hurt against Densio. She finished the game, I'm pretty sure. Maybe they were showing a replay of Shibata. They were showing her a lot on camera sitting in the stands.

Oh ok, #5 Mika Shibata, setter is the one that got injured. And that explain why in the game against Denso Mihajlovic was not getting any back row attacks, the backup setter is not used to set her back there yet.. I hope Shibata comes back soon.

Thanks for posting these videos... great image quality, I just wish we could watch the live games with this image

My Money's on Yamauchi

you can see both Shibata's and Takahashi's injury moments in those highlight videos clearly, in slow motion

The NEC v Toyota game was great. Neriman is brutal from the back. I'm loving that.

Watching those clips, where you can actually see the people, I'm liking what I see from NEC Spiker #13 Misaki Yamauchi. She might bring some of what Akari Oumi brought: "Get out of my way, I'm winning here" attitude. And she tries really hard to hit the ball really hard, with all her 150 pounds. Cute, if not always powerful. She's got some fire. Time will tell.
I can't tell her and Yanagita apart in the crappy live streams but I'm going to keep an eye on her

Oh ok, #5 Mika Shibata, setter is the one that got injured. And that explain why in the game against Denso Mihajlovic was not getting any back row attacks, the backup setter is not used to set her back there yet.. I hope Shibata comes back soon.

I think #7 Misaki Tanaka is the main setter, but I don't know who had been doing a better job of feeding Mihajlovic. It was Tanaka who prompted Mihajlovic to give her the kiss I wrote about after the first game against Hitachi.

Speaking of Hitachi. their problem is they don't play defense. Arisa can't cover the entire floor. Miya Sato lives by the credo that setters don't have to play defense, and 33 year old den-mother #11 Megumi Kurihara, who I like offensively--she's got a good serve and a good attack, and she's tall--has a defensive philosophy that appears to be: "I'm not chasing after that. I'm old. People will understand".

I'm liking JT more and more, maybe even more without #02 Mizuki Tanaka OH (still don't know what happened to her), as the little whippersnappers Kanasugi and Kitsui are getting more chance to show their stuff. JT is down to 13 players. Yikes!

So I went and watched JT vs Hitachi, Hisamtsu and Rockets and #5 Mika Shibata is the starting setter.

But is so confusing, they all look so much a like, the stream quality does not help and their names are even more alike Misaki Tanaka, Mizuki Tanaka

Hitchi is really missing Ushieto and Watanabe, of course they don`t have Uchieto anymore, and I would think Watanabe would be fully recovered and ready to play already this season. I`m excited to see Nagaoka back.

they should allow foreigners who aren't middle blockers to only back row attacks. they're awesome

is Nabeya from Deenso an NT member ?
btw.. imo,transfering a foreigner OPP or OH should come first for japenese clubs.i wouldnt transfer a foreigner MB unless i did have great wing spikers etc..of course block is imporant but a foriegner MB doenst seem to make a big difference in japan (where a foreigner spot is used/allowed) unless she is Cuban Carillo or Sanchez..lol

btw. who is that Kadzie (blond foreigner OH)?

meso mi ra se beno...

This post has been edited 1 times, last edit by "Canter" (Nov 9th 2017, 10:31am)

they should allow foreigners who aren't middle blockers to only back row attacks. they're awesome

is Nabeya from Deenso an NT member ?
btw.. imo,transfering a foreigner OPP or OH should come first for japenese clubs.i wouldnt transfer a foreigner MB unless i did have great wing spikers etc..of course block is imporant but a foriegner MB doenst seem to make a big difference in japan (where a foreigner spot is used/allowed) unless she is Cuban Carillo or Sanchez..lol

btw. who is that Kadzie (blond foreigner OH)?

Kadie Rolfzen, an american OH who previously played for Dresden in Germany.

they should allow foreigners who aren't middle blockers to only back row attacks. they're awesome

is Nabeya from Deenso an NT member ?
btw.. imo,transfering a foreigner OPP or OH should come first for japenese clubs.i wouldnt transfer a foreigner MB unless i did have great wing spikers etc..of course block is imporant but a foriegner MB doenst seem to make a big difference in japan (where a foreigner spot is used/allowed) unless she is Cuban Carillo or Sanchez..lol

btw. who is that Kadzie (blond foreigner OH)?

Kadie Rolfzen, an american OH who previously played for Dresden in Germany.

imo,transfering a foreigner OPP or OH should come first for japenese clubs.i wouldnt transfer a foreigner MB unless i did have great wing spikers etc..of course block is imporant but a foriegner MB doenst seem to make a big difference in japan

Big tall OH foreigners can help Japanese teams win games and they do make a difference. But that's why I generally don't like it. They change the game, make it different, less Japanese, less defense, less variety of attack. Neriman is a bit of an exception. She seems to understand the culture of the Japanese game, plays with great spirit. Mihajlović is mostly okay because she's Mihajlović I could do without the rest of the OH foreigners playing in Japan.

MB Cursty Jackson playing for Hitachi seems like a zero sum, not making a difference. MB Foluke Akinradewo, on the other hand, playing for Hisamitsu, is fabulous. Not only is she one of the coolest looking volleyball players anywhere, she seems to really get the Japanese game and culture. Smiling and happy all the time. She's not really a good blocker--I think she closes her eyes when she jumps--but she's deadly on the slide attack. Hisamitsu doesn't need wing spikers, so Akinradewo is a great fit. This is just what I think.